


Enter the Dragon

by ab2fsycho



Series: Hold My Tea and Watch This [29]
Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Fun, M/M, dragon - Freeform, fight, i love violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-21
Updated: 2013-08-21
Packaged: 2017-12-24 05:51:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/936147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ab2fsycho/pseuds/ab2fsycho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pillan is loose, and the first battle ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Enter the Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> I figured it was time for some action.

Free. He was free. He was awake and free. Dirt scratched against his sides, the sound of stone scraping against his scales muffled by the earth he fought to get off of him. He had been bound. Oh, he had been bound for so long that his limbs had cramped with each early movement. The bonds still tied his clawed hands and feet together, but he could feel the growing slack. He could feel everything. He had never felt anything so vividly. His muscles had never been so tense with excitement. His own breath had never felt so hot, so heavy with anticipation. He was going to see the sun. He was going to feel it on his face. He was going to open his mouth and breathe in fresh air for the first time in millennia.

Waking up had been a slow and lengthy process. He’d been tormented with dreams for so long that he hadn’t realized the difference between reality and fantasy. At least the dreams had been somewhat pleasant. In fact, they’d been beautiful. But their beauty made waking even more horrendous. It made him furious. When he’d resolved to remain fully awake, he’d struggled against his bonds. The pain of them rubbing his arms and legs raw for centuries had been enough to render him motionless. One would think that his scales would have protected him from that pain, but the binds had worked their way between his scales and caused him such agony that each time he cried out he just got a mouthful of dirt. He’d had to train himself to resist the desire to keep still in order to work his way out. He’d built up quite the tolerance for pain.

Once the resistance had grown to be enough for him to tolerate the agony, he’d begun to move. He’d begun to work his way upward through the crust of the earth. Once he could move, his followers awakened and found the hole he’d been stuck in. They could hear him. Though he could not open his mouth to speak, they could hear him. They could hear every thought he manifested. So they’d assembled more followers by his orders, creatures from the Far East. The man-beasts were useful, simple cannon fodder. At his behest, the man-beasts had taken up the task of finding the traitorous moon’s followers and destroying them first. Two had done so most eagerly. Two had injured the youngest of the moon’s followers without giving so much as a thought to morality. Picking off each of the moon’s followers one by one had seemed oh so simple. It seemed so simple, he could’ve roared and thrashed and inadvertently dug himself a deeper grave upon realizing that the two man-beasts had foolishly, oh so foolishly, brought down the most dangerous member of the moon’s league.

And he wasn’t dangerous because of his powers. No, the winter spirit the man-beasts had laid low was dangerous because of his connection to an even darker force.

But he had not thrashed and thrown off his progress upward. He remained still, digging patiently and slowly. He told his armies to wait. He told the Huecuvus to wait for him to loose his binds to a certain point. He told them to wait until he was merely a few feet from the surface. When he was, he would tell them to act. This gave him time to think, to wonder how many enemies he was willing to make on his way up. Was he willing to do battle with the personification of fear and the moon’s followers alike?

He’d decided he didn’t care. Once he had dug his way into position, he sent them to capture the Nightmare King who had tortured the two man-beasts to death. He didn’t particularly care for the individual members of his army, but he did believe in retaliation. He worshipped revenge. The Nightmare King would understand that. But he should’ve known that challenging the Nightmare King would’ve led to her involvement.

The very thought of Gaia put all other thoughts to rest. He didn’t stop moving, but he stopped thinking. He stopped thinking of revenge long enough to remember his mother, to remember how sad she’d been to cage him. He thought he could forgive her and had given her the opportunity to run. Still, she chose weakling humans and the moon over him. She even promised his death. The thought should infuriate him. It did. But it would be a good long while before he thirsted for Gaia’s blood. He mourned for his mother. He mourned for her long enough that he jumped when he realized his talons had breached the surface. Reaching through the earth, reaching upwards from his prison, he started to dig his way out. Water came pouring through the packed soil as he whittled through earth, the pressure of the water bearing down on top of him slowing his progress.

But he was larger than the body of water that was his last barrier between him and the rest of the world. When he fought his way through that last barrier and climbed through to the water’s surface, he was blinded by the light. Light. How long had it been since he’d felt pure sunlight on his scales? He stood in the deep pool, blind but staring up anyway. He was sore, so sore, but he was awake and free. He was so free. The bonds that had held him for millennia fell from his body and his muscles loosed for the first time. Dirt and blood washed off of him and he breathed. He breathed, oh he breathed. When his eyes could finally stand it, he opened them and glanced up at the sky from the deep cavern he’d been buried in. He stretched. He stretched every limb and rattled every scale. He spread his wings and let them feel the sunlight. The sunlight was so magnificent, so amazing. Each movement was unhindered, exquisite.

And he breathed.

Before he could stop himself, he let out the first roar the world had heard from him since the moon ordered Gaia to imprison him.



Sera felt the break before she heard his voice. Once she felt it, she ran. She didn’t even check to see if the others were following her. They were close enough to their destination that she could let them figure out which direction they needed to take. Once she heard him, though, she stumbled and fell face first into the dirt. She scrambled to get upright, taking more time than she cared to getting on her feet. When she thought she would never get up in time, she felt Bunny’s paws under her arms, lifting her up. Once up, they continued running.

Her chest heaved when she came to a grinding halt before a giant cavern. Staring down the massive orifice, decorated with rock and plants, she saw something splashing in the clear pool of water at its base. At that moment, the breath caught in her throat and her heart stopped at the sight of him.

And he saw her.

Time didn’t freeze. In fact, the moment felt fleeting. But even as he stared up at her and bellowed, “Hello Gaia,” almost joyously, she could not move an inch. She watched him feel his way along the rocky and dirty walls, feeling for notches and footholds. The Guardians and Pitch came to stand beside her as he climbed up. It would’ve taken someone their size much longer than the minute it took him to reach their level.

When the two of them were face to face for the first time in she didn’t know how long, she realized just the sheer size of him. His head was the length of her body. He could swallow each of them if he so desired. His neck was the length of nine horses, and she couldn’t even begin to describe the size of his body or his wingspan. Terror should’ve sent her running, fear should’ve split her open, but all she could do was stare and stand completely still. All seemed silent, the birds and creatures of the rainforest included, until she choked out, “Nidhogg.”

“I did always prefer my Greek name, but that is moot.” His voice was deep and cheerful. It didn’t seem cracked or damaged at all from having been encased in earth for so long. She was the one who sounded damaged. “My, it seems you are much smaller than I remembered. I suppose I’ve grown despite the mountain of earth you set on my back.”

“Nidhogg, please—.”

“Don’t beg, Mother, it isn’t like you.” He looked her up and down, ignoring the others standing stunned and horrified around her. “We have changed since last we met. You don’t look at all like the woman who raised me from birth. Has the moon done this to you?”

“You know why I’m here, Nidhogg,” she spat, feeling her resolve but lacking conviction. “You know I can’t let you—.”

“Let me? Dearest Gaia, you don’t need to ‘let’ me do anything,” he scoffed. “You couldn’t control me even if you wanted to.” Sera gasped as his giant, clawed hand swatted her to the side. She no longer stood between him and the Guardians plus Pitch. She tried to get up, but saw flames flickering in his mouth before any of them could act. “Bid farewell to the moon’s beloved followers.”

His mouth went agape as the flames surged from his throat. The group took several steps back as they saw their doom in Nidhogg’s fire, but one remained still. Jack Frost raised his staff and stared into Nidhogg’s mouth. As the flames burst forth through the dragon’s teeth, Jack countered the blast with a stream of ice. He stood, bracing himself against the impact of the outburst, and continued to hold off Nidhogg’s attempts to burn him and his comrades until the dragon realized this tactic was futile and closed his mouth. When he gazed down at Jack, the boy was dumb enough to stare defiantly back at the dragon.

Sera would have to remember to call him an idiot later.

Jack prepared to attack again, the others joining him this time as she got to her feet. When Nidhogg saw this, he flapped his massive wings and the force sent them careening backwards into the forest. He continued flapping, rendering them unable to move as he tested out his first flight. He hovered up, gracefully taking to the skies as if it had only been yesterday that he’d learned his wings. The canopy bowed under the pressure of his wings before he took off, leaving them all there to stare after him. He roared as he flew, and suddenly she could hear the plague spirits cackling and the monkey men screeching.

It hit them all then: the end bringer was loose.



“Jack!” Tooth screamed as the youngest Guardian stood up and leapt onto the wind, following the dragon. She, in turn, followed him.

“Everyone able to fly must go after him,” North reasoned as they heard Pillan’s army crashing through the rainforest towards them. “Bunny and I will stare here and handle the others.”

“We’ve got the gumbies! Go!” Bunny shouted at them.

Sandy took off on a cloud of dreamsand as Pitch snapped his fingers. From the shadows came the familiar whinny of one of his Nightmares. When it appeared, he mounted it. He was about ready to kick and proceed after the others when he saw Sera standing rigid, her eyes wide. “Seraphina—.”

“I can’t.”

“Since when?” Bunny asked. This came as news to everyone.

“I haven’t flown since . . . since . . . I can’t!” North, Bunny, and Pitch all stared dumbly at her as they realized what she was saying. Their stares only made her more frustrated. “Quit—!”

“Stop with the bravado and take one of my Nightmares,” Pitch barked as he snapped his fingers, summoning another. She got ready to shake her head and send a biting remark at him, but he cut her off with, “You must. Don’t be afraid, Sera.”

Whether Pitch using the words he only reserved for those he truly cared for or his using Mother Nature’s preferred name that made her stop and listen, Bunny would never know. Whichever it was, it seemed to have worked as she leapt onto the second Nightmare’s back and they chased after Pillan. Once alone, Bunny and North gazed at each other. They heard the monkey men and the plague spirits closing in on them. Bunny knew they were going to need some additional help with this one. “How did I used to say it, mate? Desperate times?” Bunny asked North.

North stared at him briefly, pure joy crossing his face as his eyes lit up. Sticking one sword in the ground, he reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a smallish drawstring bag. “Call for desperate measures, my friend.”

North tossed the bag to Bunny, who opened it and took a deep breath before guzzling its chocolate contents. He could feel the effects immediately as his body began to shift and grow larger, his paws becoming clawed hands and feet and his teeth becoming sharp enough to tear through anything. When he’d been transformed into a beast three times his normal size, he let out a war cry he had not used in hundreds of years.



The Pooka war cry sent a visible shiver through Pitch as they chased after Jack and the dragon. Sandy and Tooth had not yet caught up with either, and Sera was still struggling with the Nightmare Pitch had given her.

As they advanced on their target, they could see a black and blue individual circling the dark green dragon’s face. Whenever Pillan unleashed a jet of fire, it was countered by Jack’s frost. The two twisted in the air, and it almost looked like they were dancing. As they neared, they could just barely pick up on the dragon scoffing, “You’re that infant that got my men killed!” They didn’t hear Jack’s response, but it must’ve been enough to anger the beast. He snapped his jaws, almost catching Jack by the ankle.

Sandy led the troupe up past the warring dragon and winter spirit, knowing their greatest chances of surprising Pillan lay in attacking him from above. Once they picked up enough speed that they were keeping pace with the dragon and the youngest Guardian, Sera signaled to Pitch. He nodded, and they both dismounted the Nightmares and jumped onto Pillan’s back. Each grabbed one of the spikes that lined the dragon’s spine to keep from slipping off his sleek scales. Pillan roared as he realized he was being attacked by more than just the ‘infant.’

Sandy readied a ball of dreamsand as Jack sent ice bolts into each of Pillan’s eyes, temporarily blinding the dragon. Pillan roared as Sandy aimed and through the ball at the beast’s face. Sandy was taken aback when his sand didn’t affect Pillan in the slightest. Wrinkling his nose, he readied his whips and began fending off the onslaught of plague spirits with Tooth. 

Sera pulled the black dagger from it sheath on her leg and went to hand it to Pitch over Pillan’s spikes. He stared at it briefly, recognizing it, then took it. Her gaze darted from the blade to the massive wing beside him. The wing was large enough that it could wrap around the Guardians, Sera, and Pitch thrice and there would still be excess, but it was weak compared to the dragon’s scaled body. Pitch nodded, acknowledging what she wanted him to do, then slashed at the part of the wing that connected to the dragon’s body. Pillan roared again, each cry becoming more earsplitting. Then he tucked his wings and rolled in the air, forcing Pitch and Sera to lace their limbs between the dragon’s spikes in order to hold on. When the beast’s wings extended once more and he was flying straight again, Pitch handed the blade back to Sera and she slashed at the opposite wing. Pillan roared again, but the wounds didn’t faze him. He continued flying as if he’d never been injured. Pitch and Sera exchanged glances, both unsure of what else to do to slow him down as she sheathed the knife again.

Meanwhile, Tooth and Sandy cut through the plague spirits without too much trouble. Jack continued deterring the dragon’s flames, resealing the ice on Pillan’s eyes each time the layer thinned. It wasn’t until the dragon took a blind swing at Jack did the boy get knocked off balance and drop his staff. Without his crook, he started careening down towards the rainforest far below. Sera motioned for Pitch to follow him, the Nightmare King not even hesitating as he summoned his Nightmare and dove after the winter spirit. As a last ditch effort to force Pillan to the ground, Sera straddled the dragon’s back and pulled her hammer from its resting place over her shoulder. She inhaled to steady herself, balancing on the balls of her feet as she calculated the amount of time it took for the dragon to flap his wings. She eyed the joint at the top of the wing, counting the seconds and determining just how far she had to jump. She made her move when the right wing was on an upward swing, jumping and raising the hammer above her head. When she finished counting, she used every last bit of her strength and brought the hammer down directly on the joint. Her whole body shook from the impact of her hammer, and she grit her teeth and hissed at the sound of the bones separating. One last earsplitting, long roar made her head ring just before Pillan tucked his right wing under him and he began his descent towards the earth.

Sera kicked off his back and began her own descent. Before she had time to really panic, the Nightmare she’d ridden galloped through the skies and caught her. She landed on it backwards, and had to regain her balance long enough to right herself on its back. She looked around for the others, catching a glimpse of Pitch and Jack flying side by side towards Tooth and Sandy. The elder Guardians were still battling the plague spirits. Plague spirits and Guardians alike split apart as the dragon fell between them, sending flames in each direction as he spun through the air. Some flames caught the plague spirits. Sandy, Jack, and Sera dodged the fire easily, but Tooth and Pitch weren’t fast enough. One of Tooth’s wings caught flame and Pitch’s Nightmare disintegrated.

“Sandy, catch Tooth!” Jack said over the wind. Sandy didn’t hesitate, both diving for their targets. Sera dove after Jack, knowing his slight form couldn’t possibly withstand Pitch’s weight.

Despite his gargantuan frame, she lost sight of the dragon as his scales blended in with the rainforest. Her whole body was shaking from the ordeal, her battered nerves catching the attention of the Nightmare she was riding. She kicked him onward anyway, wiping sweat and tears from her eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> One more update today, and then I have news.


End file.
